272 eminent citizens, including 16 judges, 123 retired bureaucrats and 133 retired armed forces officers, have released an open letter criticising Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party for allegedly trying to damage the reputation of constitutional bodies such as the Election Commission.

The open letter said, “We, the senior citizens of civil society, express our grave concern that India’s democracy is under assault, not by force, but by a rising tide of venomous rhetoric directed toward its foundational institutions. Some political leaders, instead of offering genuine policy alternatives, resort to provocative but unsubstantiated accusations in their theatrical political strategy. After their attempts to tarnish the Indian Armed Forces by questioning their valour and accomplishments, and the Judiciary by questioning its fairness, Parliament, and its constitutional functionaries, now it is the turn of the Election Commission of India to face systematic and conspiratorial attacks on its integrity and reputation,” which reflected the signatories' concerns about the tone of political debate.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday raised concerns about the SIR process during a meeting with key AICC office bearers from 12 states and Union Territories where electoral roll revision is taking place, and said the party must respond to this politically, organisationally and legally, according to sources.

During the meeting, Gandhi also said that it is the duty of the Election Commission to maintain clean electoral rolls; instead, it was putting the responsibility on political parties, the sources said.

Gandhi said that the procedure was moving too quickly and claimed that it was designed to remove genuine voters, the sources added.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Gandhi and AICC general secretary organisation K C Venugopal attended the review meeting with state unit heads, Congress Legislature Party leaders and secretaries from the 12 states and Union Territories where the Special Intensive Revision is underway.

As the party continued its ‘vote chori’ message, the Congress said that the Election Commission’s handling of the SIR process has been “deeply disappointing” and demanded that the poll body must immediately show that it is not functioning under the BJP’s influence.

Kharge, who led the meeting with key office bearers, said that the BJP is trying to use the process for “vote chori”.

Kharge wrote on X, “We held a comprehensive strategy review with AICC general secretaries, AICC in-charges, PCCs, CLPs and AICC secretaries from the states/UTs where the SIR process is underway. The Congress Party is unequivocally committed to safeguarding the integrity of the electoral rolls,” after he chaired the meeting.

After a heavy defeat in Bihar, where the NDA won 202 of 243 seats and the Mahagathbandhan secured 35, the Congress has raised more questions about the role of the Election Commission in the election process.

In its daily SIR bulletin, the poll authority said that over 50.25 crore enumeration forms have been distributed in the 12 states and Union Territories. This means that 98.54 per cent of the 50.97 crore electors have received the partly filled forms.

The 12 states and Union Territories are Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Puducherry, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.

Among these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal will vote in 2026.

In Assam, which also votes in 2026, the Election Commission announced a special revision of electoral rolls on Monday.

Phase two of the SIR exercise began on November 4 with the enumeration stage and will continue until December 4.

Last week, Rahul Gandhi called the Bihar results “surprising” and said that the election was not fair from the very beginning.

Gandhi said that the Congress and the INDIA bloc would carry out a detailed review of the results.

The Congress said that the results clearly showed “vote chori on a gigantic scale -- masterminded by the prime minister, the home minister, the EC”.

Gandhi’s campaign in Bihar focused on his “vote chori” or vote theft allegations.